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ASHBURN, Va., – The Drug Enforcement Agency’s investigation of Washington football coach Ryan Vermillion focuses on the distribution of prescription drugs, a source confirmed to ESPN.
As a trainer, not a doctor or nurse practitioner, Vermillion would not be permitted to dispense prescription drugs under federal law. Nor can a doctor distribute them where they are not licensed to practice.
Washington’s WRC-TV first reported this development.
The DEA raided Vermillion’s office in the Washington premises as well as his home last Friday afternoon. Washington coach Ron Rivera said he was not at the facility at the time, but several players were still there. Vermillion was put on administrative leave by the organization on Monday.
Vermillion worked with Rivera for nine seasons in Carolina and joined him in Washington in January 2020. Washington’s chief medical officer is Anthony Casolaro and Chris Annunziata is the chief medical officer. Bubba Tyer, who was the team’s coach from the 1970s to 2009, has come out of retirement to help.
In 2014, the DEA randomly screened several NFL medical staff at airports following a game – Tampa Bay, San Francisco and Seattle – as part of an investigation into the distribution of non-prescription drugs. . The Transportation Security Administration was also part of the research.
According to an Associated Press report at the time, officers requested documents from medical staff on visiting teams for the controlled substances they possessed. They also wanted proof that doctors could practice medicine in the state of the local team.
That research stemmed from a lawsuit earlier that spring on behalf of former NFL players. The number of complainants at the time, according to the AP, was over 1,200.
The NFLPA released a statement on Wednesday that it had sent a formal request to the NFL for information on the merits of the investigation, calling it a health and safety issue.
Washington issued a statement saying the investigation was not “related to the team.”
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